After his four-touchdown, 174-yard afternoon in Kansas City Sunday, Eric Decker has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 13. Decker’s four touchdowns in the Broncos’ 35-28 win were a franchise record, and three of his scores came in the second half of the game as the Broncos overcame an early 14-point deficit.

Decker’s four receiving touchdowns tied Cincinnati’s Marvin Jones for the most by a player in the NFL this season, and they’re the highest total in a road game in more than six years. The last player to score four touchdowns in a road game was Randy Moss with the Patriots in 2007.

Decker is the third Bronco to garner Offensive Player of the Week honors this season. Peyton Manning earned the recognition in Weeks 1 and 3, Demaryius Thomas in Week 10.

Peyton Manning and the Broncos could clinch a playoff berth Sunday — if a lot of things go right. (Denver Post file)

Yes, to many of you, the Broncos making the playoffs is a foregone conclusion. The question is not if, but where — where they’ll stack up, that is, at the top of the AFC West as a No. 1 seed, most likely, or as the No. 5 seed and a wild card.

Mathematically speaking, though, Peyton Manning and company have yet to secure their playoff berth, and they can this weekend if just one of the following five rather complex scenarios transpires:

Apparently this week is “let’s publish longform stories about current and past Broncos players” week. I’d normally wait and put this in my Friday week in review post, but because many of you will be in food comas by then, I figured these links are worth sharing now.

The first is a very long profile of Tim Tebow, titled “The Book of Tebow,” by Sports Illustrated‘s Thomas Lake. It’s a wide-ranging profile of Tebow as both a person and a phenomenon. The writing is great, and Lake describes games from Tebow’s Broncos season in great detail. Tebow fan or Tebow hater, this one is a really interesting read.

The second, by Seth Wickersham, is titled “The ugly truth about Peyton Manning,” and it appears in ESPN The Magazine and on ESPN.com. It was reported in October and at November’s Chiefs-Broncos game in Denver, and it’s a profile of Peyton Manning in his later years. It’s really well-done, and anyone who’s been following the Broncos this season will appreciate the detail and the reporting.

This comes from @IAMWillBeck on Twitter, and it’s the question on most Broncos’ fans minds this week. I’ll actually be addressing it somewhat in my longer Sunday story, so I won’t go too much into detail now, but here’s the gist: Protecting Peyton Manning from here on out is about adjustments, not changing personnel.

I can’t tell you the number of tweets I’ve gotten over the past few weeks floating ideas about ditching Chris Clark, finding a new offensive lineman to take his place, or even complaining about the play of other linemen.

With the Broncos’ eighth win of 2013, owner Pat Bowlen logged his 300th win during his tenure. He reached the milestone in 30 seasons, which is the fastest any NFL owner has done so. The next-fastest to 300 was Al Davis in Oakland. It took him 31 years.

Davis does have an edge over Bowlen in the race to 300, though; it took him 495 games at the helm of the Raiders, Bowlen 501.

Bowlen’s teams’ 284 regular-season wins are the ninth-most of any NFL owner. The 16 playoff berths and seven conference championship appearances of his teams both tie him for sixth all-time among owners, and his teams’ five Super Bowl appearances tie him for second.

Broncos defensive end Robert Ayers almost gets a block on a Chiefs field goal last season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

If you’d said two months ago that a 7-1 record halfway though the season wouldn’t be enough to earn the Broncos the lead in the AFC West, people might have thought you were crazy. Still, here we are, with the 8-0 Chiefs leading the division and the 4-3 Chargers plenty in the mix. Even the Raiders, at 3-4, are just a game below .500.

Through Week 8, the AFC West has a combined 22-8 record. That’s good for a .733 winning percentage. Last season, the division combined for just 26 wins on the season and a .406 winning percentage. In addition, the Chiefs, this year’s last undefeated team, were the worst in the entire NFL.Read more…

Peyton Manning hits Broncos tight end Julius Thomas with a completion in the first half at Dallas on Sunday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

According to the excellent stats site Football Outsiders, the Broncos have a 99.1 percent chance of making the playoffs, based on their performance through Week Five of the season. That 99.1 percent chance is the highest among the 32 NFL teams; next best are the Seahawks, who have a 97.8 percent chance, according to the site.

The Broncos’ divisional rivals, the Chiefs, have a 92.2 percent chance, second-best among AFC teams.

The NFL had five 4-0 teams going into Week Five, including the Broncos, whose game against the Cowboys kicked off at 2:25 p.m. The four other undefeated teams all played in the early games, and two — New Orleans and Kansas City — won. New England and Seattle both lost, to Cincinnati and Indianapolis, respectively. In the Patriots’ loss, quarterback Tom Brady snapped his streak of 52 consecutive games in which he threw a touchdown pass.

If the Broncos can pull off a win in Dallas, they’ll be the third undefeated team through five weeks. They play Indianapolis, which ended Seattle’s streak, in two weeks and the resurgent Chiefs twice in November.

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There is good news and bad news regarding season-long injuries to Broncos starters.

Tight end Joel Dreessen, out since aggravating his surgically repaired knee on Aug. 2, will dress and play today against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cornerback Champ Bailey, though, needs another week to recover from his injured left foot. Bailey suffered the injury in the Broncos’ second preseason game Aug. 17 at Seattle. Broncos nickelback Tony Carter will play despite the ankle injury he suffered last week.

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For the second time in three weeks, Denver’s Peyton Manning has been named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week.

The NFL informed the Broncos of the honor Wednesday morning. Manning went 32-of-37 in his team’s Week Three victory over the Raiders, throwing three touchdown passes. His 12 touchdown passes in the season’s first three weeks set an NFL record. Manning also has yet to throw a single interception in 2013.

This marks the 25th time Manning has received these honors and the 50th time a Broncos player has done so. No player in NFL history has earned more conference player of the week awards than Manning.

Did Mike McCoy wimp out late in the Chargers’ game Sunday against the Titans? Or was he playing wisely conservative? You make the call…

Here’s the situation: The Chargers were leading 17-13 with 2:25 remaining in Tennessee. Philip Rivers and crew faced a third-and-9 at their own 36.

Chargers coach Mike McCoy — who parlayed his job as Broncos offensive coordinator last season into this, his first year as an NFL head coach — decides to run the ball, essentially giving up the possession. The Chargers run Ryan Mathews off the left end for a four-yard gain. They then punt on fourth-and-5.

NFL teams likely will be chasing the Broncos all season (like the Giants chased Trindon Holliday). But for now, the Broncos are looking up in the standings. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Forget for a second the ridiculousness of talking about this after just two weeks. But since we’ve fielded several questions about this today, here’s why the Broncos are not atop the AFC West in the NFL standings.

In fact, here’s why the Broncos are the sixth-best team in the AFC standings…

Despite their 2-0 record and complete dismantling of their opponents, the Broncos rank 21st in the NFL in points allowed. Of course, Denver is giving up points because Peyton Manning’s offense is scoring so quickly and frequently. The Broncos rank first, by far, in points scored. Their 90 points are well ahead of No. 2 Green Bay with 66.

But between a 21st ranking in points allowed and ranking first in points scored, the Broncos’ combined ranking is 22nd.

Peyton Manning throwing one of his seven TDs against the Ravens. (Dustin Bradford, Getty Images)

The NFL informed the Broncos Wednesday morning that quarterback Peyton Manning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his 462-yard, 7-TD effort in last Thursday’s 49-27 defeat of the Ravens.

In the game, Manning completed 27 passes for a 64.3 completion percentage, and his 462 yards tied him for third most of any Broncos quarterback in a single game. No quarterback has thrown more than seven touchdowns in a game, and the last to reach seven was Minnesota’s Joe Knapp in 1969.

Wednesday marks the 24th time Manning has won a conference offensive player of the week nod, which passes Tom Brady for most all-time. Brady has 23, Dan Marino 18, Drew Brees and Brett Favre 16 and John Elway 15.

Broncos defensive end Robert Ayers (91) just about gets a block on a Chiefs field goal last season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

I had always carried a predilection dislike for former Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager Scott Pioli because he came from the Bill Belichick system. And the Belichick system is a sore subject around these parts.

But this piece on “The Ten Things I Learned about Being a General Manager,” as told to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) is a fascinating read:

If you look closely at the Broncos’ regular-season schedule this year, you’ll notice they play sets of non-division games against the NFC East (New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Mike Shanahan’s Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles) and the AFC South (Indianapolis, Tennessee, Houston, Jacksonville).

According to the NFL Record and Fact Book, the Broncos next year will play non-division sets against the AFC East (Yes, another game against New England, plus Miami, New York Jets and Buffalo) and NFC West (San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Arizona).

Pay attention, then, to the Broncos’ preseason schedule this year when they play San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and Arizona.

Sylvester Williams, the Broncos’ first round pick in this past April’s draft, took part in his first training camp practice Thursday night — a 90-minute walk-through at the Broncos’ Dove Valley complex.

Williams signed a four-year, $7.6 million contract earlier Thursday, a deal that includes $6.1 million guaranteed. It also became a remember-when moment in a long, winding journey to the NFL for Williams that included time on the assembly line at Modine Manufacturing building parts for truck radiators and walking on to the football team in junior college.

“Most of my family, they cried because it is a life-changing moment for us,’’ Williams said following the practice. “The biggest thing I can say is I’ve been given the money now I have to earn it … (I’m a) long way from the factory … When I signed the contract, I thought about the factory. When I was back at home I drove by the factory just to see where it all started.’’

As someone who covered the Tim Tebow circus, I believe the San Diego Chargers should reconsider their strategy in keeping rookie linebacker Manti Te’o away from the media during the organized team activity (OTA) portion of the offseason. Here are some reasons why the Chargers’ current plan is wrong:

** By not making Te’o available, the fact Te’o isn’t available becomes the Charger’s top story. Great.

** The less Te’o is available, the greater the chances he will be asked about his Internet girlfriend controversy when he is available. The more he’s available, the easier it is for people/media to move on.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.